North Melbourne caretaker coach Darren Crocker has labelled his team's 38-point AFL defeat to West Coast at Subiaco Oval on Saturday as the worst under his tenure.

The Eagles booted just one goal in a scrappy opening term and were reduced to two fit men on the bench early in the second after Mitchell Brown (foot) and Chris Masten (knee) both picked up serious injuries.

Brown has suffered a suspected fractured metatarsal in his right foot, while Masten has torn his posterior cruciate ligament.

But the 'Roos failed to capitalise on the advantage, with a blistering seven-goal third-quarter assault from the Eagles lifting them to the 17.8 (110) to 10.12 (72) triumph, their third win on the trot.

"They were down two men by quarter time so we had 22 fit men and I would have thought that was all the incentive our guys needed to really work hard and run hard and put the Eagles to the sword," Crocker said.

"Our inability to be able to do that was really disappointing.

"I just felt the third quarter is where it really slipped away from us.

"When we came out after half-time our blokes just didn't work hard enough.

"The Eagles' energy levels went up in the third quarter and we couldn't match it

"They moved the ball quickly and I thought Naitanui was good at some centre bounces and they got some quality clearances."

North Melbourne have lost six of their eight games under Crocker, including a 41-point mauling at the hands of Brisbane in round 17.

But Crocker said the loss to West Coast stung the most.

"I thought that was probably our most disappointing performance since I've taken over," he said.

"Against Brisbane Jonathan Brown got a hold of us, we couldn't stop his influence on the game.

"He kicked 8.2.

"Whereas I felt today as a collective unit our 22 couldn't get the job done against a team basically down to 20 at quarter time.

"That's why I feel it was more disappointing than that (Brisbane) game."

David Wirrpanda (three goals), Ben McKinley (three), Callum Wilson (three), Mark LeCras (two) and Josh Kennedy (two) shared the load up front for West Coast, while Darren Glass, Shannon Hurn and Beau Wilkes were rock solid in defence.

Nic Naitanui (20 hit-outs) helped the Eagles gain the ascendancy around the stoppages after quarter time, while his back-up Quinten Lynch was also influential, with Tim Houlihan, Matt Priddis and Adam Selwood providing plenty of midfield drive.

Brent Harvey was sensational for the visitors with 31 possessions, while young guns Leigh Adams (three goals) and Liam Anthony (29 touches) stood tall and Drew Petrie (one goal, 10 marks) continually presented up forward.

The Roos trailed by 40 points at three-quarter time but piled on three quick goals to close to 20 points midway through the final term.

But a 50m penalty against Michael Firrito for running through the mark and the resultant goal to Priddis killed off the challenge.

West Coast coach John Worsfold said initial reports suggested Brown's foot fracture was on the less severe end of the scale.

"A quick call from the doctor is it's not in the bad part of the foot," Worsfold said.

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